The Santa Barbara City Council has received a two-year climate progress report outlining how the city plans to reach carbon neutrality by 2035.
Major strategies include more home solar, more battery storage, more electrification, and a bigger push to shift electricity use away from peak-demand hours.
City leaders said those steps are central to cutting pollution while making everyday energy use cleaner and more resilient.
Here's what to know
Santa Barbara's 2035 carbon-neutrality target was the focus of a two-year update delivered to the City Council by Jefferson Litten, the city's Energy and Climate Division manager, as KEYT reported. Work is underway across city departments to move that goal forward.
Adopted in July 2024, the Climate Action Plan serves as the city's guide for that effort. The report said Santa Barbara's biggest sources of polluting gas are on-road passenger travel and energy use in buildings.
"The city has a really ambitious climate action plan goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2035," he said. "So that is going to be a combination of adding EV charging, converting our buildings to electric buildings and adding solar storage wherever we can."
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Highlighted programs include home electrification, EV charging for both residents and city operations, and tree-related efforts, the report said.
More background
Buildings that switch from gas-powered appliances to electric systems can help reduce indoor air pollution, while rooftop solar and batteries can give households more control over energy bills and help keep the power on during outages or periods of grid stress.
The city is also emphasizing off-peak electricity use, a strategy that can ease pressure on the grid when demand surges.
In practice, that can mean encouraging households to charge batteries or vehicles and run major appliances during lower-demand hours, which may also line up with cheaper utility rates.
Transportation remains another major piece of the equation. Replacing gas-powered vehicles with EVs, alongside expanding bike and pedestrian infrastructure, could help curb tailpipe pollution that contributes to both planet-warming pollution and local air quality concerns.
Hotter weather is part of the backdrop for the issue. At the State Street farmers market, visitor Jenna Davis connected the city's planning to what local families are already feeling.
"It is always changing, it is definitely getting warmer and I feel like summer is just shifting to be later and later now, so kids are going back to school, but it is going to be hot at their school, and in the classroom," she said.
What's being done?
The city expects to put significant emphasis on solar and on electrifying municipal buildings. The effort isn't limited to government sites, though, and also includes exploring ways to help residents shift to cleaner energy systems at home.
The report's actions include incentives for residential solar and battery installations, plus measures meant to move more electricity use into off-peak periods.
Santa Barbara is weighing a student climate innovation grant contest as well as potential partnerships with UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College.
"The presentation was really well received by council, it was great to see praise for the department and our other departmental partners for all the work we have been trying to do to advance our climate goals," Litten said.
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